Tag: farming

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Youth Crop Scouting Competition – Connecting Youth with Crops

Brandy VanDeWalle

Looking for a fun club project? Want to unite your club members? Running out of ideas for club meetings?  If you answered, “yes” to any of these questions, help is on the way!  Nebraska Extension is pleased to present the 11th annual Crop Scouting Competition for Nebraska youth. Youth interested in crops can learn about crop growth & development and basic crop scouting principles. 

Don’t know a lot about crops?  Ask a local agronomist to assist by providing a short lesson on crop production. You can have the agronomist meet with the youth a little during each meeting or outside of the meeting. This is one way to engage those youth interested in crops. 

This contest will be held at the Eastern Nebraska Research & Extension Center near Mead, Nebraska on August 7, 2024. The event will include both indoor and outdoor events. Teams of junior high and high school students (those completing 5-12th grades) from across Nebraska are invited to participate. This event is limited to the first ten teams who sign up! 

            Clubs or other organizations may enter a team composed of three to five participants. An adult team leader must accompany each team of students. Team leaders could be FFA advisors, crop consultants, extension staff, coop employees, etc. 

Top-scoring teams win prizes: $500 for first, $250 for second, $100 for third place. The top two teams will be eligible for the regional competition held in Nebraska this year.

Teams will be expected to know the basics of scouting corn and soybean fields. This includes crop staging; looking for patterns of crop injury; disease, insect and weed seedling identification; etc. Other topics may include but are not limited to, pesticide safety, nutrient disorders, and herbicide injury. 

More information about the crop scouting competition and instructions on how to register a team are available online at cropwatch.unl.edu/youth. Register at: https://go.unl.edu/cropscoutingreg

Teams must be registered by July 15. This program is sponsored by Nebraska Independent Crop Consultant Association, Ward Laboratories, the Nebraska Soybean Board and Nebraska Extension.

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Emergency Preparedness Workshop Series for Rural Families

Brandy VanDeWalle

An upcoming four-part extension workshop for women in agriculture will focus on emergency preparedness for rural families. The program will be a four-part series, held at numerous locations across Nebraska and Indiana. The series will focus on farm and ranch emergency management, first aid, fire protection and hazardous materials. Workshops will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Central time on March 5, 7, 12 and 14.

The program is a collaboration between extension women in agriculture programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Purdue University. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, agricultural occupations have high rates of work-related injuries and deaths. While not all emergencies result in bodily injury or death, they also may cost rural families in other ways.

“Women play a critical role in ensuring the safety of their homes and rural communities,” said Jessica Groskopf, director of the Nebraska Women in Agriculture program. “In many farm and ranch families, safety is an important topic, but it sometimes gets overlooked because it does not directly impact profitability.”

Each state’s workshop sites will be hosted by local extension personnel. Keynote speakers will be simulcast to each location, and each site will provide additional speakers and hands-on activities. Dinner will be included.

Groskopf said the program’s structure is intended to strengthen women’s networks in rural areas, which can provide opportunities for building trust and sharing information.“Connections are so important to rural women,” she said. “We have seen the benefits that come from knowing your peers, having a place to share difficulties, and mitigate the isolation that so many of us in agriculture often feel.”

The workshops seek to help participants initiate preventative practices, set up a plan to deal with emergencies before they occur and be more comfortable reacting to emergency situations. There is a registration fee of $50 per person before Tuesday, Feb. 20. The fee increases to $60 per person after Feb. 20. Participants should plan to attend each session. A virtual option is available for those unable to attend a workshop site, although in-person attendance is highly encouraged to better network with other attendees and interact with speakers. The virtual registration fee is $75 before Feb. 20, and $80 after Feb. 20. Registration may be completed on the Nebraska Women in Agriculture website.

This project was supported by a grant from NCRCRD through funding from USDA NIFA Award #2022-51150-38141.  ​

Nebraska Workshop Sites

  • Beatrice — Beatrice Fire and Rescue, 300 S. Sixth St.
  • Concord — Haskell Ag Lab, 57905 866 Rd.
  • Grand Island — Raising Nebraska, 501 E. Fonner Park Rd., Suite 100
  • O‘Neill — Holt County Courthouse Annex, 128 N. Sixth St.
Crops, Livestock, Programming, Uncategorized

Manure Management Programming

Brandy VanDeWalle

Turning manure nutrients into better crop yields while protecting the environment will be the focus of seven Nebraska Extension workshops being held across the state this February and March. Leslie Johnson, UNL animal manure management coordinator has announced that these workshops have traditionally focused on livestock producers because they’re required to attend manure training regularly, but efforts have been made to include crop farmers that are often recipients of the manure because the information shared is just as valuable to them and their bottom line. The workshops will still meet the educational requirements for permitted livestock operations laid out by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy’s title 130.

 The news release also states that participants who attend the day-long (9 a.m.–4 p.m.) event will receive NDEE land application training certification. The initial land application training certification requires participation in the full-day program, which includes lunch. Attendance at the afternoon session will meet minimum needs for recertification, but participants who only need recertification may choose to attend the full event if they wish for no additional charge. Sessions will include an update on regulations and discussions on how to best use manure on cropland. Anyone is welcome regardless of the need for certification. Crop farmers and livestock operations will learn useful information to apply to their operations.

Sessions will focus on what fields should be chosen to best utilize manure nutrients and other benefits. Each session will be highly participant-led with limited seating. Participants will be given a scenario and asked to determine the priority ranking of each field within the scenario. This ranking will be done at the end of each activity focused on manure nutrients, transportation cost, soil health, water quality, as well as neighbors and odors. Regulations and record-keeping about manure storage and application will also be addressed during each session.

Sessions include:

  • Feb. 12 — Columbus
  • Feb. 13 — Geneva
  • Feb. 19 — Scottsbluff
  • Feb. 20 — Lexington
  • Feb. 29 — Norfolk
  • March 5 — West Point
  • March 6 — Ord

Because of participation limits in each session, registration is required. If registration numbers exceed expectations, more sessions may be added. To ensure your attendance, register online. The cost of the sessions will be $75 per operation requiring certification or $25 per person with no expectation of certification.

The workshops are sponsored by the Nebraska Extension Animal Manure Management Team, which is dedicated to helping livestock and crop producers better utilize manure resources for agronomic and environmental benefits. For additional information on the workshops and other resources for managing manure nutrients, visit UNL Water or contact Leslie Johnson at 402-584-3818.

Register now